


Nobody Told Me There Would Be Days Like These

by rocket_dreaming3D



Series: Flying in Reverse [2]
Category: DC Animated Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Past Rape/Non-con, Smut, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-02-22 08:27:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13163121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocket_dreaming3D/pseuds/rocket_dreaming3D
Summary: When Slade teams up with Dick on a job things go down hill quick. Used to being in complete control, how will Slade handle things when they get away from him?





	1. A Day in the Life

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you guys! Sorry if you thought I was dead, didn't mean to go MIA for so long. What's it been, like, a year and a half or so? I fell into kind of an emotional and inspirational rut after graduating from college, but don't worry, I'm back now! Started writing this sequel to The Sensation of Falling, so I hope that that's at least a little exciting. Happy New Year every body!
> 
> I'm doing something else new with this new fic too! I've created a Ko-fi, so if any of you would like to buy me a cup of coffee (little known fact, I'm a straight up coffee addict! Keep it on the DL guys). I'm going to attach a link to my profile if any of you are interested. Definitely don't feel like you have to, but if you enjoy my work and you want to show appreciation, smash that kudo button and maybe go buy me a cup of coffee if you feel like it! I'll be adding the link at the end of every chapter in case you would like to go buy me a cup-o-joe! 
> 
> Thanks so much for sticking with me and being such awesome readers guys! I hope you all have amazing New Years and I look forward to seeing you in the comments of the chapters on this new work ;)

He shouldn’t have let Dick help. He’d felt it from day one, something in his gut clenching when he agreed to let the younger man come along on his hunts. The vampire shouldn’t have been that big a deal, he’d dealt with them on several different occasions throughout his career. He’d thought nothing of letting Dick come along while he worked on this one. 

But that nagging feeling had followed him all the same. 

And now he was starting to see why. 

Dick shot out ahead of him, his slim, lithe figure darting away, arms pumping, muscles moving smoothly under his skin tight Nightwing suit. Slade could remember the exact way they moved as he sprinted off in front of him. He couldn’t help but think ‘what if I had been faster? What if I had pushed myself just a little harder?’ 

✿*∗˵╰༼✪ᗜ✪༽╯˵∗*✿

Dick turned over and sleepily threw an arm over Slade’s bare chest, mumbling something unintelligible as he slowly woke up. Slade chuckled at the younger man as he continued to scroll through his phone. 

“Slade, why the fuck are you on your phone this early in the morning?” Dick groaned, burrowing further into the older man’s side for warmth. It had been a particularly chilly winter in Gotham and, despite any logic or reasoning Slade ran past the younger man, Dick still refused to sleep with any clothes on whatsoever, relying completely on Slade’s body and an impressive nest of blankets for heat. (Not that Slade was complaining.) 

“Shhhh, I’m working baby boy,” Slade murmured quietly, not looking away from his phone. With his free arm wrapped around Dick’s shoulders he stroked his fingers through his thick, dark hair absently as he read through pages and pages of articles and reports on his target. “Just go back to sleep.”

“Why’re you working anyway? The sun isn’t even up yet,” Dick grumbled, pulling one of the blankets up over his head. “Go back to sleep.”

“In a little bit. I’m studying my new target.” Slade could feel the young man rolling his eyes even through the thick comforter that was now covering him head to toe. 

“Whoever it is they better be pretty goddamned fascinating for you to be reading about them on your phone when you have a naked younger man in your bed,” Dick huffed. “What’d they do?”

“It’s just some delinquent vampire that’s running loose, causing trouble. The government has tracked him to Gotham.”

“You’re not doing a job for the government are you?” 

“Fuck no. Private contractor in the area wants this vampire out of the picture. He’s been fucking up some drug shipments for the gangs in the area.” 

“Mmm, that’s my big boy,” Dick purred. “Fuck the government.” 

Slade chuckled, shaking his head as he studied a picture of his target, memorizing his face. After a few more minutes of searching he found some grainy security footage of his target in action. Dick grumbled, burrowing deeper into the bed, grinding his hips against Slade’s leg as he watched through the available clips. He did his best to ignore the younger man’s distraction tactics, but if there was one thing Dick Grayson was good at, besides complex gymnastics moves, it was distracting Slade. 

The older man could feel his body reacting, despite his attempts to ignore the way the young man was rolling his body up against his side. Finally he sighed, putting the phone down and rolling onto his side, pulling Dick into his arms, hands trailing down his lower back, cupping Dick’s perfectly formed ass. 

“You are very distracting this morning.”

“I’m more fun than boring old work anyway.” Dick wiggled against Slade so that the older man could feel an erection forming there. Growling playfully he rolled on top of the smaller man, covering his face with careful kisses. Dick giggled, wrapping his legs around his lover’s hips before pressing kisses across the older man’s chest, fingers tracing down the dip of Slade’s spine. “Your vampire can wait. You’ve got a sexy, young man in your bed right now who needs some attention.” 

Slade pressed his mouth to Dick’s, rolling his body down into his lover. Dick moaned into the kiss, wrapping his arms around the older man’s shoulders. They ground their hardening cocks together in a desperate rhythm, hands groping across the bare planes of each other’s chests. It was a heady sensation, their hot breaths mingling together between them as they gaspe for new, fresh air, unable to find any. Dick’s hands slid upwards, tracing the sides of Slade’s neck and finally tangling in the older man’s long, disheveled hair. Slade thumbed one of his lover’s nipples as his free hand propped him up so he wouldn’t crush the smaller man beneath him. He slid his hand slowly down the front of his lover until his hand reached where they were rutting their throbbing erections together, wrapping his hand around them and stroking slowly, eyes locked onto Dick’s, when...  
“Oh my God, guys, I need you help!” The door slammed open, Frost charging in, nose down to her phone. She stood typing something for a while before looking up to see Slade, face beat red, and Dick glaring at her, chin jutted out defiantly. “What? Am I interrupting something?”

“No, this is a great time,” Dick huffed, rolling his eyes. 

“Can it, jailbait,” Frost fired back, rolling her eyes. “We both know you get more cock than you know to do with in here, you can miss this one. I’m here ‘cause I need your fashion sense for five seconds, you can fuck later.”

“Ooooh, what’s the outfit for?” Dick scrambled out of the bed, modesty to the wind and Slade and his raging erection all but forgotten. The two chattered excitedly around the room as Dick threw on some clothing and they bustled out of the room, leaving the older man to lay in bed and wonder what had happened. 

Going back to scrolling through documentation and video footage of his next target Slade could hear the other two giggling and chatting in the other room, gossiping excitedly about the Frost’s date plans for that night. He couldn’t help but smile at how close the two had grown over the months after Dick had returned after the brief hiccup in their relationship. He had originally worried that it would be off putting to the younger man that he had one of his ex’s sleeping on his couch, but much to his surprise the two had meshed together with hardly a second thought, often times seeming to speak their own private language. 

Lost in thought Slade watched the choppy gate of the silent security footage, the vampire in question barely a blur in over half of the shots, leaving behind him a trail of bloodshed. He had seen much and more of this in his line of work, deadening him to the unnecessary loss of life that he came up against on a daily basis. He didn’t like this aspect of himself, but it was an unfortunate side effect of his line of work; the only line of work he could do after the things he had seen and done in his military days. It was a reality that he was forced to work with. 

Eventually he put his phone down, sighing as he stared up at the ceiling of his room, running a hand through his hair. If he weren’t so used to the exuberant entrances of the two younger people in the apartment their sudden reappearance in the room would have been much more startling, but as it was he had grown used to the two moving about the apartment like a hurricane. The Frost strutted around his room in the outfit that Dick had helped her pick out, the two chattering excitedly as she posed. 

Slade was happy to see the young woman acting more open and cheerful, more like other young women her age. He thought Dick had done an amazing job of getting her to open up and see the more exciting, normal side of life again, something he knew had been difficult for her since she had taken over the roll of Killer Frost after the death of her friend. He had done his best to help the younger woman when they had first met years ago, but there was a certain energy about Dick’s enthusiasm for partying that had a way of sweeping her along for the ride. 

“Slade, come make pancakes, we’re hungry!” Dick leapt onto the bed, crawling on top of the older man, shaking him by his shoulders. “Get up get up get up!” 

“You know you two are welcome to use the kitchen any time you want,” Slade chuckled, rolling his eye. 

“You make them better!” Dick whined, lower lip pouting slightly in a way that drove Slade absolutely crazy. Slade chuckled, shaking his head slightly as he sat up. He put his hands on Dick’s legs where they stradled around his hips and rose from the bed, carrying the younger man’s much smaller body with ease, the Frost following behind, making some cheeky remark about his choice in boxer briefs. He could feel Dick’s face pressed into the crook of his neck and, he couldn’t be sure, but he thought he could feel the younger man grinning. 

Setting Dick down gently on one of the bar stools at the island Slade started moving around the kitchen, preparing all the ingredients he would use for his pancakes. Frost plopped down next to Dick, the two starting to chatter again about things that Slade vaguely followed as he started brewing up coffee for the three of them. It was these kinds of morning rituals that made Slade feel like the patchwork little family they had built in Gotham was enough to bring him peace. Solomon Grumbly rubbed across his ankles, purrs trembling through his tiny, furry body. Slade found himself thinking that he was happier than he had been in years, happier than he thought he would have any right to be again. 

After serving up the fresh, hot pancakes and making sure that Dick and the Frost were discussing the prospects of her date contently Slade went back into the room that he and Dick shared to get dressed for the day. 

(✿ ◕ᗜ◕)━♫.*･｡ﾟ


	2. Judgement Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt begins. But for who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Sorry it took me a while to get the second chapter up. Had some trouble getting the ending just right. I'm still having a little bit of trouble getting back into the rhythm of things. Thanks all for still reading!! 
> 
> As always I hope you enjoy and if you really like what you read please let me know! All constructive criticism is welcome!! <3 As I said in my last chapter notes, I have created a Ko-fi profile, so if you would like to show any monetary appreciation I'll add that link at the end of the chapter. As always, totally not necessary, but I'm a CNA by day, so I'm always trying to make ends meet. 
> 
> Please enjoy the chapter everybody! I'll see you next time in chapter three!

Later that night, after the Frost had left for her date, Slade started getting ready to go out to work. Dick pouted, laying spread across the bed as he watched Slade getting ready to leave. Slade tried his best to pretend that he didn’t notice, but after a while he could feel the younger man’s eyes drilling holes into the back of his head. 

“Something wrong, baby boy?” He sighed, pulling on the skin-tight bodysuit that went under his armor. 

“Everyone’s having fun tonight but me.” 

“I’m not going out to have fun, Dick, I’m going out to work.” 

“Can I come?”

“I really doubt that you’d want to. It’s not going to be anything exciting, just hunting down this vampire and getting rid of him. It wouldn’t look good for you to be working with me in the field. Not good for your image.” There was a long, drawn out silence, and Slade was afraid to make eye contact with his lover. He always caved too easily with Dick. “Don’t look at me that way.” 

The younger man intensified his pout stubbornly, big blue eyes determined to get exactly what he wanted. Slade’s determination was swiftly crumbling under that icy blue stare, and he knew that Dick could see that. Quirking an eyebrow the young vigilante sat up, waiting to hear what he knew was coming.

“Fine, if you really don’t care about being seen with me in public as Deathstroke then you can come along. But you have to promise to-”

“Be careful, yeah, yeah, I got it.” The younger man was up and racing around the room, pulling on his own suit, gearing up for a long night.

“Don’t you have an early class tomorrow?”

“God, who are you, Alfred?”

“You know he asked me to make sure that you kept up regular attendance in your classes.”

“Yeah, okay, mom,” Dick rolled his eyes. “I get three skip days a semester and I haven’t used any yet so it’s fine. One class isn’t going to hurt me.” 

“What class is it?”

“It’s my computer programing class. I think we both know that I could teach that class in my sleep. I’ll be fine, Slade, I wanna go out and have some fun tonight.” 

Slade chuckled and shook his head, pulling his helmet down over his face. “Fine, but make sure you keep up.”

“Bring it on, old man,” Dick smirked.

ᕕ( ՞ ᗜ ՞ )ᕗ 

They had spent their first few hours searching. Not a particularly glamorous aspect of what Slade did, he had to admit. Not that the shooting, slashing, hacking, murdering aspect of his job was very glamorous either, but the searching for the target part wasn’t usually his favorite. That said, he calculated that it was at least 30% more entertaining with Dick along for the ride.

The two bantered back and forth in a language almost completely their own, something they had developed a couple of months after Dick had taken what they referred to as his ‘leave of absence’. The couple had been growing swiftly closer before Dick had left, and they had only grown more so when he had returned. 

They didn’t make contact on the first night, which wasn’t unusual in jobs like the one they were working. Dick moped the entire way home, stopping only when Slade pulled him into a side alley, throwing him up against a wall. 

“Slade, what the fuck?” Dick grunted, getting his bearings. The older man took his helmet off, towering over the much shorter man, trapping him against the wall. Slade didn’t have particularly good night vision, but he swore he could see Dick’s smirk through the shadows as he leaned down, pressing his lips to the younger man’s. Dick let out a little moan as his lips parted for Slade, body melting under the older man’s touch. Wrapping his arms around his older lover’s neck he leaned into the kiss, rolling his hips forward slightly. The friction drew out a moan from the older man. 

Slade ran his hands down Dick’s sides, stopping to massage the younger man’s ass cheeks, grinding his own hips forward in response to the younger man’s movements, the friction causing very quick reactions in their bodies. Slade felt the familiar triumph that came with feeling Dick’s body respond to his touches and advances. 

“Slade!” Dick gasped, grasping at the older man’s chest and shoulders as his lover’s kisses trailed down his neck, hands tracing and feeling reverently across the younger man’s body. When his hand circled around to the front of the younger man’s hips, squeezing and rubbing gently at the growing stiffness between his young lover’s legs. 

Dick wined and keened, fingers burrowing in Slade’s long white hair, yanking large chunks from the pony tail Slade pulled it back in when he wore his helmet. Slade bit and sucked at Dick’s lips, his beard tickling Dick’s clean-shaven face as he pulled the rest of the pony tail free before letting his own hands trail down Slade’s front until his fingers grasped desperately at the armor piece hiding his lover’s growing erection. He groaned in disappointment when, even after much fiddling he couldn't make any progress. Slade had to laugh, lifting Dick to press him to the wall, legs wrapped around his hips, grinding the metal plating into Dick’s erection, eliciting another frustrated groan. 

“Fuck, Slade, let’s go home,” Dick whined, grasping at the taller man’s shoulders desperately, fingers scrambling against slick, metallic planes. Slade chuckled lightly before scooping Dick up effortlessly into his arms. Dick pretended to struggle half heartedly, but both men were laughing all the way back to where Dick had stashed his bike. Slade climbed on behind the younger man, letting his hands rest lightly on his hips. 

“Let’s go home, baby boy.” 

They two made their way quickly through the city and back to the apartment, completely unaware that the subject of their search had been watching from the shadows not fifty feet away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Ko-fi Profile: [Buy Me a Coffee](https://ko-fi.com/L4L16WWX)


	3. D Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade and Dick come face to face with their target. All hell breaks loose. What happens when push comes to shove?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! I'm sorry in advance for how soul wrenching this chapter is and the cliff hanger ending. Actually I'm not, I'll admit it. I love pulling this shit on a George R. R. Martin level. Luckily y'all won't have to wait as long to get chapter 4 as I'm going to have to wait for book six, no? 
> 
> As always I look forward to any and all comments y'all have for me! I love talking to you in the comments and hearing what you guys think. 
> 
> If any of you want to show your appreciation, kudos are always welcome, but I also have a ko-fi page that you can visit and, if you would like to, you could buy me a coffee! I'll leave a link in the notes at the end of the chapter. As a CNA by day and rogue fic writer by night any thing helps. 
> 
> I have also recently created a Patreon page where you guys can bribe me to write extra short stories and other doodads so go check it out: 
> 
> http://www.patreon.com/LoganBeck
> 
> Thanks so much for all your support in advance, I can't tell you how much it helps. <3
> 
> Looking forward to seeing every one next Sunday!

The vigilante and the mercenary went out every night for a week after that, working the case together. Slade found that he enjoyed having someone to work with for a change refreshing, enjoying their nightly patrols for the vampire to be much more tolerable than the regular hunts he went out on by himself with other jobs. 

He had teamed up with several other vigilantes and scum through the years, but doing so with Dick was much more tolerable than those times. It didn’t hurt that, while, what Dick was doing wasn’t necessarily obeying the law, he also was walking a thin line between vigilante and criminal himself. Slade didn’t have the right to be particularly choosy, being a mercenary, but he found that working with some of the darker grey areas of Gotham tended to come with God complexes that really wore on his nerves.

The two had finally made contact with their target, chasing him through the city. Slade had thought they had the vampire cornered. He’d seen the footage, he’d calculated the risks, he’d done his math. It should have been over. They should have ended the problem and gone home, like they always did. 

Just as the pair was closing in the target managed to leap, straight up, landing on a fire escape above and sprinting up to the top of the building. Before Slade had time to react Dick had vaulted up, landing gracefully on the metal platform before shooting after the vampire at full speed. Slade cursed under his breath, taking slightly longer, much bulkier than the two men he was attempting to keep up with. By the time he got to the rooftop the two were a whole building away, leaping effortlessly over the gaps between buildings. Dick was gaining, but it was all too quick. Slade felt his stomach plummeting, nausea rising in his chest, a cold and sick taste coating his tongue. He opened his mouth to call out a warning as he ran as quickly as he could. But it wasn’t quick enough. 

Before he could get a word out, the vampire turned on Dick, over taking him, whirling him around, twisting his arms behind his back with one hand, wrenching his head to the side, exposing the length of his beautiful neck, a neck that Slade had grazed with his own teeth several times. Slade barely felt himself flying over the pavement as he screamed out, praying that he had some kind of good karma built up that would mean that he would get there in time, that this wasn’t happening, that he could stop it from happening. Unfortunately, despite his healing abilities and all of the muscle mass he had, he couldn’t move fast enough. 

The vampire smirked, making direct eye contact as he leaned forward, sinking his teeth into the side of Dick’s neck and ripping it violently, taking a chunk, blood splattering everywhere. Dick’s mouth hung open in a perfect ‘o’, eyes wide, blood gushing out of his perfect neck. The vampire grinned at Slade through bloody teeth, pure black eyes glimmering in the street light. He pushed the bleeding vigilante away from him onto the rooftop before sprinting away into the night. 

No matter how quickly Slade ran it didn’t seem fast enough. The big dark puddle around Dick was growing and there would be no time to stop it when he got there. His mind raced, bringing up all the research he had done before the job, fighting off thoughts of regret. Why had he let Dick come along, why had he thought they would be okay when Dick had never fought a vampire before, the younger man was so out of his league, why hadn’t he just done it himself, why, why, why- 

He shoved the thoughts back, scrolling through all his research again, weighing all his options. He didn’t have time for emotions, he had to do something or he would lose Dick forever. 

When he finally reached the younger man he slid on his knees to his side. 

“Dick? Dick, can you hear me? Answer me!” The vigilante weakly turned his head towards his older lover, trying to form words that came out in gurgles. “Oh my God, Dick, I’m so sorry, I’m going to fix this. Dick?”

The younger man’s eyes had slid shut, his breaths growing weaker. The mercenary had to act quickly. He pulled out a knife from his belt, putting it up to his neck and pulling it down the line of the major artery under the skin. He brought the young man’s head up to his neck and pressed it against his lover’s lips, praying that it would work. He felt his blood leaving in rhythmic pulses, losing body heat quicker than he remembered it happening the last time. Slade had bled out more times than he could count, but he’d never had to hope it was happening fast enough, as he counted pulses. He could feel his grip weakening and held on as hard as he could. He needed every last drop to make it into Dick’s mouth if this was going to work. It had been a long time since the older man had prayed but he was making up for every missed year in the minutes it took for him to start seeing black dots dancing in front of his eyes. He was so close, but his strength was leaving him. 

With the hand that wasn’t holding the younger man to his neck he pulled out his phone and sent off an SOS to his brother, hoping to God he would be able to track the signal. He let the phone clatter to the ground before using both hands to clutch at the younger man weakly, slumping further and further down. He could feel Dick’s body slipping away, but didn’t have the energy to panic as the back splotches took over his vision. The two lay next to each other on the ground and Slade’s last sight was Dick laying motionless next to him.

₍₍ ᕕ( * ⊙ ヮ ⊙ * )ᕗ⁾⁾ 


	4. Day of the Living Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Slade recovers from the vampire attack, he wakes up in a world where everything has changed for him. How will he cope with all the oncoming changes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I'm so bad at chapter summaries. Sorry guys! And sorry for the cliff hanger (well...kinda...I do love me a good cliff hanger). I hope you enjoy this week's chapter. I hope your lives are all going well! As always I hope to hear from you guys in the comments and I hope to see you again for the next chapter! 
> 
> I wanna give every one a heads up and let you know that I may or may not be posting a chapter next week. I had cranked out the first four chapters of this story but I've been struggling with chapter five, so please be patient with me while I work on the next chapter. I am working on a few other fanfictions for different fandoms so keep an eye out for those if you guys really like my stuff. ;) 
> 
> I hope to see you guys soon, either in this work or in another one! As always I hope you'll consider supporting me either on my Ko-fi or my Patreon accounts. You can find these links on my profile or in the notes at the end of the chapter.

Waking up after dying was painful. It started with vivid, horrible dreams, essentially replaying all of the more painful realities Slade had lived through. Flashbacks of Vietnam melded into horrible fights with his ex-wife at the end of their marriage, transitioning into all the nights of PTSD riddled nightmares and attempts at relationships gone horribly wrong. Then there was the red-hot burn of his wounds knitting themselves back together, muscles re-growing, cells replacing themselves, veins refilling with blood. It was an earth shattering experience. 

When, finally, this all ended, he opened his eye, gasping down his first breath, the air tasting like fire, burning all the way down to his lungs. He blinked heavily, sitting bolt upright in bed, hands shooting up to grasp at his face, his hair, feeling for the comforting line of his eye patch, not finding it. He clasped one hand over the bare socket, using his good eye to search feverishly for the patch. It was laying neatly on his bedside table. His. He was at home. 

Tying the patch on he called out for his brother, looking around the room. 

Wade burst noisily into the room, the familiar look of relief on his face as he saw Slade sitting upright in bed. 

“Jesus Christ, Slade,” he sighed, making his way over to the side of the bed. “What the hell happened?”

“Where’s Dick?” Slade scrambled out of bed, not caring that he was completely naked under the sheets. He grabbed the first pair of pajama pants he could, pulling them on. Wade opened his mouth to respond but took too long. “Wade, where the fuck is Dick? I need to see him, where is he? He didn’t...Is he…?”

“Slade, there’s something I should tell you before-”

That sick taste came back to Slade’s mouth at the careful tone of voice Wade was using with him. White noise filled his head and he scrambled out the bedroom door, Wade following close behind him. “Slade wait! You have to take it slow, you’ve been out for two days!”

Out in the living room what Slade saw stopped him dead in his tracks. There, at the kitchen table, sat the whole family. The Frost sat on the counter, feet swinging back and forth as she sipped at a cup of coffee. Peter was sitting at the table, furiously scribbling something into a spiral notebook, brow furrowed and fire in his eyes. 

And there, across from him, shifting nervously, fingers drumming distractedly on the table, sat Dick. Slade didn’t believe his eye, blinking furiously, expecting the picture in front of him to blink away into oblivion. When it didn’t he expected it to be a figment of his imagination, something his mind created to soften the blow of the loss of the man that he loved. He walked slowly towards the kitchen, the presence of Wade behind him a great comfort as he watched the three interact like nothing was wrong. 

It wasn’t until he was standing right at the edge of the kitchen that any of them realized he had emerged from the bedroom. The Frost looked up from the two men at the kitchen table, meeting Slade’s gaze. He could tell she knew exactly what he had been thinking, and smiled reassuringly, sipping slowly out of her mug. His body still felt like an agonizing suit of shattered glass rubbed against it with every move, every breath; but after that reassuring smile from his best friend, he knew that everything was fine. Everything was going to be just fine. 

Then Dick looked up, relief washing over his expression at the sight of his lover up and moving around again. Slade collapsed in front of the younger man, arms circling around his waist, face buried in his lap, sobs wracking through his body as relief rolled over him in giant, overwhelming waves. Dick’s hands trailed careful, reassuring lines up and down the older man’s arms and back as he waited for the older man’s emotions to subside. 

The room was silent as the two reunited. Slade held tight to his young lover, still unable to fully convince himself that what he was experiencing was real. He could feel Dick’s fingertips start to run through his disheveled hair. 

“I’ve been waiting for you, big boy. You had me worried.” 

Slade choked on a disbelieving laugh, wiping at the tears on his cheeks. “Don’t even get me started, baby boy.”

“Hey, I was only out for six hours. You took two whole days to come back to me.”

“How did you-...Why aren’t you…?”

“Dead?” Peter interjected, finally looking up from whatever he had been scribbling in his notebook. Everyone turned to look at him. “Technically he is. Or, at least, what pop culture is labelling as ‘“un”dead’.” 

Slade wasn’t listening though, gazing adoringly up at Dick, one hand hovering just over the younger man’s left cheek, as though afraid that anything more would shatter the mirage. Dick leaned into the touch, eyes fluttering closed at the familiar feel of his lover’s skin against his face. 

Suddenly, his strength leaving him, Slade collapsed backwards onto the floor. Wade rushed forward instinctually to catch him as Dick cried out in surprise and concern. The room swam a little as everyone moved in closer to see if he was okay. 

“Slade?” Dick was practically in his lap, hands brushing over his bare torso. “Slade, oh my God, are you okay? Jesus Christ, Wade, what’s happening?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Slade mumbled, waving a hand, trying to brush it off. “‘S okay.”

“Alright, big brother, back to bed for you, okay?” Wade helped his brother up, slinging the older man’s arm around his shoulder. “I told you you got up too fast.”

“Aaah, shut up,” Slade chuckled. They staggered their way into the bedroom, Dick close on their heels. Wade managed to get his older brother settled in his bed, hiding a smile as he walked out of the room, pretending not to see Dick climb in with the older man. 

Pulling the covers up to cover his lover’s bare chest, Dick snuggled in closer to Slade’s side, humming contentedly. Relief was still swimming through Slade’s head, even with every inch of his bare skin on fire. 

The two lay holding each other for a long time not saying anything, just listening to the sound of each other’s breathing, taking solace in the rhythm. 

“Dick?”

“Mmm?”

“What did Peter mean? About you being ‘un-dead’?”

There was a long pause while the younger man thought about how to respond. 

“Well, what you did, giving me all your blood, it saved me,” Dick started haltingly. “I mean, I’m still me and everything. I’m just...well...I’m just a vampire now...I guess?” There was a long silence from the older man that made Dick sweat. “Is...is that ok?”

“Baby boy, I don’t care what you are, I just can’t lose you,” Slade murmured tiredly. “I just don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for not being able to protect you.”

“I shouldn’t have darted off like that, Slade,” Dick sat up a little to meet the mercenary’s eye. “No one blames you. It’s not your fault.” 

Slade said nothing, brow still furrowed.

“Besides, look at the bright side,” Dick tried to lighten the mood. “Vampires are immortal, so you know what that means?” Slade turned his head towards his lover, expression somewhat mortified. “You’re going to have me forever now.” 

“Dick...Living forever isn’t all it’s cut up to be,” Slade started. “You’re going to lose everyone you’ve ever loved.”

“Well. Not everyone,” the younger man said stubbornly, nestling back into his place on Slade’s chest, content smile on his lips. Slade tried to remain indignant about the younger man’s immortality, but he had to admit that the younger man’s self assurance was infectious, and he was still tired from his regeneration. 

Eventually he felt his eye closing without his permission, falling back into a more peaceful sleep.

╰| ° ◞౪◟ ° |╯ 

**Author's Note:**

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> 
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